Sewing machine system and thread spool storage device

ABSTRACT

A sewing machine system is disclosed that is configured by a sewing machine and a thread spool storage device communicably connected by way of a communication element. The sewing machine is provided with a compartment identifier that searches and finds thread color information pertaining to thread color data contained in the pattern data when a selection of pattern data is validated by a pattern selection validator. The compartment identifier transmits the compartment identification for identifying a location of the compartment of the thread spool storage device that is mapped to the found thread color information. Based on the compartment identification, the thread spool storage indicates the location of the compartment identified by the compartment identification.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Japanese Patent Application 2009-198202, filed on Aug. 28,2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a sewing machine system configured bya sewing machine and a thread spool storage device communicablyinterconnected through a communication element and a thread spoolstorage device for use with the sewing machine system.

BACKGROUND

Sewing machines are known to utilize multiple colors of threads inoperations such as embroidery pattern sewing. In doing so, multiplethread spools or bobbins each carrying different thread color are storedat their designated places such as a storage device. Then, on execution,the user is to retrieve the thread spool or the bobbin, whichever isrequired, carrying the desired thread color from the storage device.

One typical example of a storage device is a bobbin storage containerfor storing supply of multiple bobbins for use with a sewing machine.The bobbin storage container is configured by multiple layers ofindependent bobbin support bases each having multiple bobbin supportpins. Each of the bobbin bases are pivoted rotatably to a base shaft.Under such configuration, the user is required to find the bobbincarrying the desired thread color from the multiplicity of bobbins withhis/her very eyes and thus necessitates troublesome search on the partof the user.

A possible solution to such problem may be a thread spool stand. Athread spool stand is configured by a thread support base with sixthreads spool pins extending from the base to allow attachment of sixthread spools. The thread spool stand is connected to the embroiderysewing machine through a dedicated cable. The thread spool base isdriven rotatably by a motor and the rotational position of thread spoolstand is sensed by a position sensor. When the thread spool standreceives a thread color code from the sewing machine, the motor iscontrolled to drive the thread spool base in rotation to bring thethread spool corresponding to the thread color code in front of theuser.

Because the thread spool stand requires a number of components such asthe motor, position sensor, and the motor controller, the overallconfiguration becomes somewhat complicated. Further, since the size ofthe device increases with the capacity to hold greater number of threadspools, the device becomes more costly and space consuming. Because ofsuch tradeoffs it is not easy to increase the number of thread spoolsand thus to undertake embroidering using large number of thread colors.

SUMMARY

One object of the present disclosure is to provide a sewing machinesystem allowing readily retrievable storage of multiplicity of threadspools of various colors for use in a sewing machine and a thread spoolstorage device.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided asewing machine system including a sewing machine capable of sewingpatterns with a plurality of thread colors based on pattern data; and athread spool storage device that is provided with a plurality ofcompartments for storing a plurality of thread spools and that iscommunicably connected to the sewing machine by a communication element.The sewing machine includes a pattern selection validator that validatesa selection of the pattern data containing a plurality of thread colordata, a thread color information storage that stores a mapping of threadcolor information of the thread spools to the compartments of the threadspool storage device, a compartment identifier that, when the selectionof the pattern data is validated by the pattern selection validator,searches the thread color information storage to find the thread colorinformation pertaining to the thread color data contained in the patterndata and that transmits compartment identification information thatlocates the compartment being mapped to the found thread colorinformation to the thread spool storage device. The thread spool storagedevice includes a compartment location indicator that indicates alocation of at least one of the compartments, and a location indicationcontroller that controls the compartment location indicator to indicatethe locations of the compartments based on the compartmentidentification information obtained from the sewing machine by way ofthe communication element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure willbecome clear upon reviewing the following description of theillustrative aspects with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich,

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a sewing machine according to afirst exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a thread spool storage device;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a compartment of the thread spoolstorage device;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a display panel;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram indicating an electric configuration of asewing machine system;

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are flowcharts of control flows executed in thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic image of a needle transfer data;

FIG. 8 is an image of a screen outputted on display; and

FIG. 9 corresponds to FIG. 8 and indicates a second exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A description will be given hereinafter on a first exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8. As shown inFIG. 1, sewing machine system M is configured by sewing machine 1 andthread spool storage device 14. Body 2 of sewing machine 1 is configuredby an integral assembly of bed 3 extending in the left and rightdirection, pillar 4 extending upward from the right end of bed 3, andarm 5 extending leftward from the upper end of pillar 4 as viewed inFIG. 1. Arm 5 terminates into head 6. Throughout the disclosure, unlessotherwise defined herein, the position in which the user or the operatorpositions himself/herself relative to body 2 of sewing machine 1indicates the front side and naturally, the opposite side indicates therear side. The direction towards which pillar 4 is located on bed 3indicates the right side and naturally, the opposite side indicates theleft side.

Though neither shown nor described in detail, head 6 contains componentssuch as needle bar, presser bar, and presser foot 7. Bed 3 allowsdetachable attachment of embroidery frame transfer device 8 which inturn allows detachable attachment of embroidery frame 11. Though notshown in detail, embroidery frame transfer device 8 well known in thefield is provided with Y-direction transfer mechanism 9 and anX-direction transfer mechanism contained in body 8 a of embroidery frametransfer device 8. These transfer mechanisms transfer embroidery frame11 in the front and rear direction represented as the Y direction andthe left and right direction represented as the X direction. Theaforementioned needle bar and the presser bar are supported movably upand down by head 6. At the lower end of needle bar, a sewing needle notshown is attached, whereas at the lower end of presser bar, presser foot7 is attached which is used in embroidering. Bed 3 further containsrotary shuttle not shown acting as a thread loop taker. A sewing machineas such exemplified in FIG. 1 only has a single sewing needle and asingle needle thread associated with it. Thus, the needle thread isreplaced as required by the embroidery pattern to be formed.

Sewing machine 1 is further provided with a sewing machine motor, aneedle-bar drive mechanism that drives the needle bar, a thread take-up,and a thread take-up mechanism that drives the thread take-up, and ashuttle drive mechanism that drives the rotary shuttle neither of whichare shown. The needle bar, the thread take-up, and the rotary shuttleare driven in synchronism with the sewing machine motor by way of theforegoing drive mechanisms. The needle bar, the thread take-up, and therotary shuttle cooperate to form stitches on a workplace cloth.

On the upper portion of arm 5, cover 5 a is provided which can be openedand closed. In the lateral middle of arm 5, thread spool 10 is set thatfeeds needle thread to the sewing needle.

As shown in FIG. 1, at the front face of arm 5, a plurality of operablekey switches 12 including start/stop key 12 a for instructing the startand stop of the sewing operation is provided. On the front face ofpillar 4, a sizeable and elongate full color display 13 configured by aliquid crystal display (LCD) is provided for displaying images ofmultiplicity of stitch patterns such as utility stitches and embroiderystitches, names of functionalities that need to be executed in thesewing operation, and other information such as various messages. On thefront face of display 13, a transparent touch panel switch 13 a isprovided which is controlled, as later detailed, by touching the switchor the touch key desired for selection of stitch patterns and allowingexecution of various functionalities presented on display 13.

Referring now to FIG. 2, thread spool device 14 is primarily configuredby a rectangular body 15 which is partitioned into 16 compartmentsidentified as 15A to 15P. Each of compartments 15A to 15P takes a drawerconfiguration in which drawers 16A to 16P can be taken in and out. Ascan be seen in FIG. 3, each of drawers 16A to 16P can accommodate morethan one thread spool 10. On the front panel of each of drawers 16A to16B, handle 16 a is provided for facilitating user access. On the bottomof drawers 16A to 16P, slope 16 b is provided that is gradually inclinedforwardly downward. Thread spool 10, when placed in one of drawers 16Ato 16P, slides or rolls forward along slope 16 b by its own weight.

Still referring to FIG. 2, on the front face of body 15, display panel15 a is provided above each of compartments 15A to 15P. Display panel 15a is provided with status LEDs 17A to 17P and remainder indicators 18Ato 18P. Status LEDs 17A to 17P, when illuminated, emanate red light, forexample. As shown in detail in FIG. 4, each of remainder indicators 18Ato 18P is configured by 5 LEDs 18 a to 18 e that each emanates differentcolor of light.

Referring to FIG. 3, at the inner upper portion of each of compartments15A to 15P of body 15, remainder sensors 19A to 19P are provided. Eachof remainder sensors 19A to 19P are configured by six reflective opticalsensors 19 a to 19 f, for instance, which are located substantiallystraight above thread spools 10 stored within drawers 16A to 16P ofcompartments 15A to 15P.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, sewing machine 1 and thread spool storagedevice 14 are communicably interconnected by, for instance, USE cable20. Embroidery frame 11 is transferred at one side of pillar 4, whereasUSB cable 20 extends from the other side of pillar 4 to establish wirecommunication between sewing machine 1 and thread spool storage device14, meaning that USB cable 20 and embroidery frame 11 are isolated fromeach other to prevent entanglement.

FIG. 5 indicates the electric configuration of sewing machine system M.Turning first to the electric configuration of sewing machine 1,controller 21 is configured by microcomputer provided with subcomponentssuch as CPU, RAM and ROM. Controller 21 is capable of communicating withcontrol circuit 24 residing in thread spool storage device 14.

Controller 21 receives input signals from input section 22. Controller21 is responsible for controlling display 13 and the sewing operation ingeneral. Controller 21 is further connected to nonvolatile memory 23.

Input section 22 includes earlier mentioned components such as keyswitches 12 at the front face of arm 5 and switches such as touch panelswitches 13 a.

Nonvolatile memory 23 stores collection of unique IDs hereinafterreferred to as compartment ID which is associated with each ofcompartments 15A to 15P. Compartment ID specifies location informationof each of compartments 15A to 15P through, for instance, identificationby row number counted from the top and column number counted from theleft. Further, thread color information of thread spools 10 stored ineach of compartments 15A to 15P is associated with each of compartments15A to 15P. Compartment ID and the thread color information of threadspools 10 are mapped to each other in the form of compartment ID-threadcolor database which is stored in nonvolatile memory 23. Nonvolatilememory 23 further pre-stores embroidery pattern data.

Referring now to FIG. 7, embroidery pattern data is configured by acolor data table containing multiple thread color data and needletransfer data containing multiple color-wise needle transfer data thatis dedicated to each thread color data. For instance, in FIG. 7, thetopmost thread color information for “red” is indicated by RGB value inimplementation. The color data table is organized by sewing sequence.For instance, the sewing sequence of each color is designated inascending order from top to bottom starting with the topmost “red”,“blue”, “yellow”, and the lowermost “green”. The embroidery pattern datais further appended with thread color code that specifies the threadcolor corresponding to each of the thread color of the multiple entriesof color-wise needle transfer data and stores the data in nonvolatilememory 23.

Next, a description will be given on the electric configuration ofthread spool storage device 14. Control circuit 24 is capable ofcommunicating with sewing machine 1 by way of USB cable 20. Controlcircuit 24 is provided with a detection circuit that detects the countor the presence/absence of thread spools 10 within each of drawers 16Ato 16P based on optical sensors 19 a to 19 f provided at each ofremainder sensors 19A to 19P. Control circuit 24 is further providedwith remainder indicator circuit for indicating the count of threadspools based on the detection of the detection circuit and status LEDindicator circuit pertaining to the display of status LEDs 17A to 17P.Remainder indicator circuit flickers the leftmost LED 18 a among the 5LEDs 18 a to 18 e of remainder indicator 18A provided in thecorresponding compartment 15A when the count of detected thread spools10 by remainder sensor 19A is 0. Remainder indicator circuit illuminatesthe leftmost LED lea when the count of detected thread spool is 1.Remainder indicator circuit illuminates the leftmost LED 18 a and LED 18b second from the left when the count of detected thread spool is 2.Thereafter, the remainder indicator circuit increases the count of LEDto be illuminated depending upon the count of detected thread spools andwhen 5 or more thread spools have been detected, all of LEDs 18 a to 18e are illuminated. Compartments 15B to 15P operate in the same manner.

The status LED indicator circuit indicates the location of compartments15A to 15P on status LEDs 17A to 17P based on the acquired compartmentID.

Referring now to the flowcharts indicated in FIGS. 6A to 6C, adescription will be given on the control flow of controller 21 providedat sewing machine 1 and control flow of control circuit 24 provided atthread spool compartment 14. The following description is based upon theassumption that sewing machine 1 and thread spool storage device 14 areinterconnected by USB cable 20. Sewing machine 1 is plugged intocommercial power supply by way of power cord not shown, whereas threadspool storage device 14 is connected to commercial power supply by wayof power cord 25 shown in FIG. 1. Thread spool storage device 14 may beconfigured to receive power from sewing machine 1 via USB cable 20instead of commercial power supply, which in case, power cord 25 can beeliminated.

Description is given hereinafter on the process flow of controller 21subdivided into steps S1 to S20. After power switch not shown of sewingmachine 1 is turned on the process flow begins with Step S1 whichpresents a mapping of compartments 15A to 15P to thread color asexemplified as screen H1 in FIG. 8. On the upper portion of screen H1presented on display 13, a virtual thread spool storage device ispresented as user interface where compartments 15A to 15P arerepresented as compartment images Ha to Hp and status LED 17A to 17P arerepresented as status LED images Ia to Ip. On the lower portion ofscreen H1, color pallet Cr is presented which comprises multiplicity ofcolor image samples to provide the user with sample of color images.Compartment images Ha to Hp as well as color pallet Cr are implementedas touch panel switches 13 a so as to be operable by the user. Becausedisplay 13 is configured as a color display, user interface such asstatus LED images Ia to Ip and color pallet Cr can be displayed inmultiple colors.

To elaborate, thread colors of thread spools 10 set to compartments 15Ato 15P are presented through status LED indicators Ia to Ip. Forinstance, in compartment ID-thread color data base, supposing thatthread color green is associated with the compartment ID of compartment15A, status LED image Ia which represents compartment 15A is displayedin green.

After presenting the relation of compartments 15A to 15P to thread coloron display 13 at step S1, the process proceeds to step S2 in whichdetermination is made as to whether or not input section 22 has beenoperated. The input operations which are the subjects of determinationin this case are: (a) input operations for specifying thread color toeach of compartments 15A to 15P: and (b) switch operation for switchingthe screen output of display 13 to embroidery pattern selection screen.

Color specification under case (a) begins with the user operation of thetouch panel switch 13 a associated with the desired compartment image Hato Hp in screen H1. Then, the user proceeds to touch the touch panelswitch 13 a associated with the desired color image within the colorpallet Cr, whereafter switch 13 a associated with “SET” image Hset istouched. The above described sequence of touch operation is referred toas color specification input. Based on the color specification input(step S3: Yes), the compartment ID corresponding to either of the touchoperated compartment images Ha to Hp is associated with the colorinformation of the touch operated color image within the color palletCr. The color information thus designated to the compartment ID isstored in nonvolatile memory 23 (step S4).

Switching the screen output of display 13 to embroidery patternselection screen for case (b) is effected by touching either of screenswitch control Ga and screen switch control Gb presented on screen H1.When this operation has been made (step S5: YES), the succeeding step S6changes the screen output to embroidery pattern selection screen notshown. The embroidery pattern selection screen displays samples ofembroidery patterns which can be selected. The user is to select one ofthe embroidery patterns through touch operation. The selection made atthis stage is considered as a provisional selection. When determiningthat provisional embroidery pattern selection is made, step S7 makes aYES decision and the process proceeds to step S8.

At step S8, the compartment ID corresponding to all the colors to beused in sewing the embroidery pattern provisionally selected at step S7are transmitted to the thread spool storage device 14. To elaborate,step S8 begins with the task of reading the embroidery pattern data forthe embroidery pattern provisionally selected at step S7 fromnonvolatile memory 23. This is followed by the task of searching thethread color information (i.e. compartment ID-thread color data base) ofthread spool 10 stored in nonvolatile memory 23 to find colorinformation that matches the thread color data contained in theprovisionally selected embroidery pattern data. Then, compartment IDassociated with the thread color information for which a match was foundby the search are transmitted to thread spool storage device 14. Theoperation of thread spool storage device 14 carried out in step S8, thatis, indication or alert produced by status LEDs 17A to 17P will be laterdescribed in detail.

Then, when a pattern selection validation switch not shown is operated,a YES decision is made at step S9 which is an indication that theembroidery pattern has been finally selected and the process proceeds tostep S10. Step S10 transmits the compartment ID associated with thefirst sewn thread color among the thread color data contained in thefinally selected embroidery pattern data to thread spool storage device14. Taking the example of a case where the embroidery pattern dataindicated in FIG. 7 has been finally selected, the topmost entry in FIG.7 for the color “red” is read as the thread color data that correspondsto the first thread change code. Then, the compartment ID-thread colordata base is searched to find the thread color information of the color“red” and the compartment ID associated with searched thread colorinformation for the color “red” is transmitted to thread spool storagedevice 14. As later described in detail, thread spool storage device 14produces and indication to inform the user of the location compartment15A to 15P where the “red” thread spool 10 is stored based on thetransmitted compartment ID. Thus, the user is allowed to take out the“red” thread spool 10 required in the sewing operation from thedesignated compartment 15A to 15P to replace it with thread spool 10presently attached to sewing machine 1.

Thereafter, when sewing operation is started by operating start/stop key12 a (step S1: YES), the process proceeds to step S12 which initiatesthe sewing of the first color. At this instance, embroidery frametransfer device 8 is controlled based on color-wise needle transfer dataproviding the needle transfer data pertaining to a given single color,which is red in this case, in coordination with the needle bar, thethread take-up, and the rotary shuttle to execute a series of sewingoperation pertaining to the thread color “red”. Then, the subsequentstep S13 determines the presence/absence of a thread change code for thenext color-wise needle transfer data and if found (step S13: YES), theprocess proceeds to step S14. Step S14 reads the thread color datacorresponding to the second thread change code, in this case “blue”according to the example shown in FIG. 7. Then, compartment ID-threadcolor data base is searched to find the thread color information for thecolor “blue”, and the compartment ID associated with the found colorinformation for “blue” is transmitted to thread spool storage device 14.

Then, when sewing of a given color in this case for the color “red” iscompleted based on color-wise needle transfer data (steps 15: YES), arequest for prompting thread replacement is made through a requestscreen outputted on display 13 (step S16). Thread spool storage device14, on the other hand, produces an indication as later described in stepT8 to inform the user of the location of the compartment 15A to 15Pwhere “blue” thread spool 10 is stored based on the transmittedcompartment ID. Responsively, the user is prompted by the request screento take out the “blue” thread spool 10 from compartment 15A to 15P andreplace it with the “red” thread spool 10 currently attached to sewingmachine 1. Then, when start/stop switch key 12 a is operated again torestart the sewing operation, a YES decision is made at step S17 and theprocess proceeds to step S12 to start sewing based on the color-wiseneedle transfer data for the subsequent given single color of thread.Then, as described earlier, if step S13 determines the presence of thenext thread change code, steps S14 to S17 are executed. In the currentexample, steps S14 to S17 are repeated for the three colors “red”,“blue”, and “yellow” identified by the thread color code and when sewingis started based on the color-wise needle transfer data for the finalcolor “green”, step S13 makes a No decision meaning that no more threadchange code exists. In such case the process proceeds to step S18 andturn off command transmitted to thread spool storage device 14 forturning off each and every status LED 17A to 17P.

After completing the sewing based on the last color-wise needle transferdata (step S19: YES), a message is outputted on display 13 indicating tothat effect (step S20).

Next, the operation of control circuit 24 of thread storage device 14 isdescribed by also referring to FIGS. 6A to 6C. When power is supplied tothread spool storage device 14, operation of control circuit 24 beginswith step T1 which acquires signals outputted from optical sensors 19 ato 19 f implemented at each of remainder sensors 19A to 19P. Then, stepT2 produces an indication to inform the count of thread spools 10 withineach of drawers 16A to 16P through remainder indicators 18A to 18P basedon the acquired signals.

Based on the remainder indication, the user is allowed to readily noticewhich of compartments 15A to 15P of thread spool storage device 14 hasfew thread spools or no thread spools at all. Further, the user isallowed to verify the thread color designated to each of compartments15A to 15P though screen H1 outputted to display 13 of sewing machine 1as earlier described in step S1. Thus, the user is able to preemptivelysupply thread spool 10 to compartments 15A to 15P in need.

Step T3 determines whether or not the compartment ID associated with thethread color information of the provisionally selected embroiderypattern transmitted from sewing machine 1 at step S8 has been received.If so (step T3; YES), the process proceeds to step T4 to continuouslyilluminate status LED 17A to 17P indicating the location of thecompartment designated by the compartment ID. Thus, the location of thecompartment associated with each of the thread colors, in this case,“red”, “blue”, “yellow”, and “green” contained in the provisionallyselected embroidery pattern data is informed to the user.Advantageously, the user is given advance notice of where the threadspools 10 of the 4 colors used in the embroidering of the provisionallyselected embroidery pattern is stored.

Step T5 corresponds to step S10 carried out by sewing machine 1. Thatis, a determination is made as to whether or not the compartment IDassociated with the first used thread color information has beenreceived. If so (step T5: YES), the process proceeds to step S6 to turnoff the currently illuminated status LED 17A to 17P and status LED 17Ato 17P associated with the compartment ID received at step T5 isflickered. Stated differently, mode transition takes place in which acontinuous indication mode that produces continuous indication throughthe above described illumination of the status LEDs 17A to 17P for eachand every color used in the embroidery pattern transitions to anintermittent indication mode that produces intermittent indicationthrough flickering of the status LEDs 17A to 17P for only the firstthread color used. The user is thus, given a notice as to which of thecompartments 15A to 15P stores the first used thread spool 10 which is“red” in the current example. Responsively, the user is to take out the“red” thread spool 10 from compartment 15A to 15P and set it to sewingmachine 1. After setting thread spool 10, step 11 is executed by sewingmachine 1 which is an operation to start sewing.

As sewing with the first thread color is started at sewing machine 1,thread spool storage device 14 is standing by at step T7 to receive thecompartment ID corresponding to the thread color of the second threadchange code. When receiving the compartment ID from sewing machine 1(step S7: YES), the process proceeds to step T8 which turns off thecurrently illuminated status LEDs 17A to 17P and flickers status LED 17Ato 17P corresponding to the compartment ID. Thus, the user is given anadvance notice on where the “blue” thread spool successively used isstored. This allows the user to take out the second color thread spool10 to prepare for sewing of the second color while the sewing of thefirst color is ongoing.

If another transmission takes place at Step S14 from sewing machine 1,thread spool storage device 14 responsively executes step T7 and stepT8. That is, by repeating step T7 and step T8 for the thread changecodes designating “yellow” and “green”, the user is allowed to preparethread spool, etc. for thread replacement in a smooth and efficientfashion.

If there is no more succeeding thread change code, meaning that sewingis started with the last color-wise needle transfer data, thread spoolstorage device 14 receives the turn off command transmitted at step S18(step T9; YES). Responsively, the process proceeds to step T10 and turnsoff each and every status LED 17A to 17P that was flickering. Thus, theuser is notified the fact that there is no more thread replacement.

Sewing machine system M according to the present exemplary embodimentautomatically extracts the thread colors) used in the embroidery oncesewing machine 1 selects the embroidery pattern data. Further, thecompartment IDs which designate the locations of compartments 15A to 15Pin which the thread spools 10 of the extracted thread colors are storedare transmitted automatically to thread spool storage device 14. Basedon the transmitted compartment IDs, thread spool storage device 14produces an indication to inform the user of the location of compartmentwhere thread spool 10 used in sewing the selected embroidery pattern isstored. Thus, the user will be able to readily find where the designatedthread spool 10 is stored without fail because the indication isproduced by thread spool storage device 14 from which the designatedthread spool 10 is actually stored and taken out. The above describedconfiguration is further advantageous in keeping thread spool storagedevice 14 simple in construction without necessitating motors or anysuch complicated mechanism. Still further, because of the abovedescribed highly reliable configuration for finding the designatedthread spool 10, the system will be able to manage increasing number ofthread spools 10.

Thread spool storage device 14 is provided with status LEDs 17A to 17Pone for each of compartments 15A to 15P. Thus, the location ofcompartment 15A to 15P designated by sewing machine 1 can be informeddirectly to the user especially because the indication is brought to theattention of the user by way of light with reliability.

Each of compartments 15A to 15P provided at thread spool storage device14 is capable of storing more than one thread spools 10. Thus a stock ofmultiple thread spools 10 may be stored in each compartment 15A to 15Pto reduce the frequency of replenishing thread spool 10. Further, thecount of remaining thread spool or the presence/absence of thread spoolswithin compartments 15A to 15P can be informed to the user in the formof a remainder indication through remainder indicators 18A to 18P basedon the detection of remainder sensors 19A to 19P. Thus, thread spool 10can be replenished prior to or after sewing in response to theindication and prevent situations where sewing has to be interrupted forthe purpose of replenishing thread spool 10 during the ongoing sewing.

Remainder indicators 18A to 18P provided at thread spool storage device14 are configured by LEDs 18 a to 18 e and are provided one by one toeach of the compartments 15A to 15F. Thus, the remaining amount ofthread spool 10 can be indicated through LEDs 18 a to 18 e for eachindividual compartment 15A to 15P. Further, because the indication isgiven by light, it is clearly noticeable to the user.

The embroidery pattern data of sewing machine 1 contains a thread changecode that instructs changing of thread color to a specific color. Asdescribed earlier, sewing machine 1 initially transmits the compartmentID of the thread color first used to thread spool storage device 14 andthereafter transmits the compartment ID corresponding to the threadcolor information by the thread change code to thread spool storagedevice 14 prior to the timing of actual thread replacement. Based on thecompartment ID associated with the first used color information, threadspool storage device 14, through its control circuit 24, informs theuser of the location of compartment 15A to 15P designated by compartmentID through status LED 17A to 17P. The above described configurationallows thread spool storage device 14 to inform the user of thread spool10 carrying the first used thread color and thread spool 10 which mustbe changed in a smooth and organized manner.

Further, according to sewing machine system M, selection of embroiderypattern is made at sewing machine 1 in two steps where the user makes aprovisional selection of an embroidery pattern to be sewn and thereafterfinalizes the selection by validating it. Thus, the location ofcompartment 15A to 15P associated with each and every thread colorcontained in the thread color data can be informed to the user throughthread color storage device 14. This provides an advance notice to theuser as to the location of compartments 15A to 15P associated with eachand every thread color used in the embroidery pattern prior tofinalizing the selection of embroidery pattern, which is convenient tothe user in determining the embroidery pattern. Further, the locationsof compartments 15A to 15P of the thread colors used in theprovisionally selected embroidery pattern are given in a different modeof indication compared to the mode, of indication for the finallyselected embroidery pattern. Thus, it is readily distinguishable to theuser as to whether or not the indication pertains to the thread colorsof the provisionally selected embroidery pattern.

More specifically, the mode of indication under the provisionallyselected embroidery pattern is given in a continuous mode in which theillumination is continuous, whereas the mode of indication under thefinally selected embroidery pattern is given in an intermittent mode inwhich the illumination is intermittent. The switch in the mode ofindication from the continuous mode to the intermittent mode, which isvisually recognizable by the user, makes it apparent to the user thatthe indication being presented to the user is based upon the finallyselected information which was finally selected after having beenprovisionally selected.

Sewing machine 1 is provided with display 13 capable of displaying incolor and that provides a mapping between the thread color andcompartment location with which the thread color is associated. The useris thus, allowed to readily recognize which color of thread spool 10 isstored in which compartment.

Thread spool storage device 14 is provided with status LEDs 17A to 17Pwhich provides an indication of the location of the compartment wherethe designated thread color is located under the control of controlcircuit 24. To elaborate, control circuit 24 obtains compartment ID fromsewing machine 1 by way of USB cable 20 and instructs status LEDs 17A to17P to indicate the location of compartments 15A to 15P which aredesignated in the compartment ID. Thus, the location of compartments 15Ato 15P which store thread spools 10 of thread colors used in theembroidering by sewing machine 1 is readily noticeable to the user witha simple system configuration. Thus, thread spool 10 of the thread colorused in the embroidering is readily and reliably accessible to the user.

Statue LEDs 17A to 17P provided one for each of compartments 15A to 15Pof thread spool storage device 14 indicates the location of compartments15A to 15P designated by sewing machine 1 by way of light which isreliably noticeable to the user.

Each of compartments 15A to 15P provided at thread spool storage device14 is capable of storing more than one thread spools 10. Thus a stock ofmultiple thread spools 10 may be stored in each compartment 15A to 15Pto reduce the frequency of replenishing thread spool 10. Further, thecount of remaining thread spool or the presence/absence of thread spoolswithin compartments 15A to 15P can be informed to the user in the formof a remainder indication through remainder indicators 18A to 18P basedon the detection of remainder sensors 19A to 19P. Thus, thread spool 10can be replenished prior to or after sewing in response to theindication and prevent situations where sewing has to be interrupted forthe purpose of replenishing thread spool 10 during the ongoing sewing.

Remainder indicators 18A to 18P provided at thread spool storage device14 are each configured by 5 LEDs 18 a to 18 e and are each provided oneby one to each of the compartments 15A to 15P. Thus, the remainingamount of thread spool 10 can be indicated through LEDs 18 a to 18 e foreach individual compartment 15A to 15P. Further, because the indicationis given by light, it is clearly noticeable to the user.

The configuration of sewing machine system M is not limited to theforegoing exemplary embodiments but may be modified as follows.

The thread color information designated for each of compartments 15A to15P can be seen at a glance through status LED images la to lp of screenH1 as described in step S1. In addition to such mode of presentation, anapproach exemplified in FIG. 9 may be employed as well. FIG. 9illustrates a second exemplary embodiment of the present disclosurethrough another example of screen H1. Based on the touch operation oftouch panel switch 13 a of compartment images Ha to Hp, controller 21outputs the thread color information associated with compartments 15A to15P specified by the touch operation to a separate section identified byIx of screen H1.

Provision of drawers 16A to 16P to compartments 15A to 15P is notmandatory. Instead, the compartments may be configured in the form of abox, preferably with an operable/closable lid provided over the boxopening, that allows thread spool 10 to be taken in out.

The count of LEDs 18 a to 18 e configuring the remainder indicators 18Ato 18P is not limited to 5 but may be 3 or any other appropriate count.The color of light emitted by LEDs 18 a to 18 e may be modified asrequired. Remainder sensors 19A to 19P may be configured by a weightsensor instead of an optical sensor.

Status LED 17A to 17P may be configured to indicate the location of atleast one of the compartments from the multiple compartments. Status LED17A to 17P and remainder indicators 18A to 18B providing information byway of light may be replaced by other elements that provide informationin different approaches such as a liquid crystal display and audioelement.

Sewing machine 1 may be provided with a sensor that senses detachment ofthread spool 10 from sewing machine 1. When the detachment of threadspool 10 is sensed by the sensor, thread spool storage device 14 may beconfigured to indicate the location of the compartment where therelevant thread spool 10 was originally stored.

In the foregoing exemplary embodiments, the mode of indication under theprovisionally selected embroidery pattern is given in the continuousmode, whereas the mode of indication under the finally selectedembroidery pattern is given in the intermittent mode. The abovecorrelation may be interchanged as long as the two modes aredistinguishable. In either case, the distinction can be made with asingle set of indicator to advantageously simplify the systemconfiguration.

In the foregoing exemplary embodiments, sewing machine 1 has beenconfigured to accept only a single set of needle thread, however, it maybe configured to accept multiple sets of needle threads. Further, thecapacity of sewing machine 1 is not limited to forming embroiderypatterns but may also be capable of forming utility patterns or anyother patterns so long as such patterns have thread attributes such ascolor designated to them.

While various features have been described in conjunction with theexamples outlined above, various alternatives, modifications,variations, and/or improvements of those features and/or examples may bepossible. Accordingly, the examples, as set forth above, are intended tobe illustrative. Various changes may be made without departing from thebroad spirit and scope of the underlying principles.

1. A sewing machine system comprising: a sewing machine capable ofsewing patterns with a plurality of thread colors based on pattern data;and a thread spool storage device that is provided with a plurality ofcompartments for storing a plurality of thread spools and that iscommunicably connected to the sewing machine by a communication element;wherein the sewing machine includes: a pattern selection validator thatvalidates a selection of the pattern data containing a plurality ofthread color data, a thread color information storage that stores amapping of thread color information of the thread spools to thecompartments of the thread spool storage device, a compartmentidentifier that, when the selection of the pattern data is validated bythe pattern selection validator, searches the thread color informationstorage to find the thread color information pertaining to the threadcolor data contained in the pattern data and that transmits compartmentidentification information that locates the compartment being mapped tothe found thread color information to the thread spool storage device,and wherein the thread spool storage device includes: a compartmentlocation indicator that indicates a location of at least one of thecompartments, and a location indication controller that controls thecompartment location indicator to indicate the locations of thecompartments based on the compartment identification informationobtained from the sewing machine by way of the communication element. 2.The system according to claim 1, wherein the compartment locationindicator of the thread spool device comprises a first light emittingelement provided at each of the compartments.
 3. The system according toclaim 1, wherein each of the compartments of the thread spool storagedevice is capable of storing a plurality of thread spools, and thethread spool storage device further includes: a thread spool remainderdetector that detects a remaining count of the thread spools within eachof the compartments, a thread spool remainder indicator that indicatesthe remaining count or presence/absence of the thread spools within eachof the compartments, and a remainder indication controller that providesinstructions to the thread spool remainder indicator to indicate theremaining count or the presence/absence of the thread spools within eachof the compartments based on the detection of the thread spool remainderdetector.
 4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the thread spoolremainder indicator of the thread spool storage device comprises asecond light emitting element provided at each of the compartments. 5.The system according to claim 1, wherein the pattern data of the sewingmachine includes a thread change command that specifies a replacementthread color to which a current thread color is to be changed whenchanging the thread spool attached to the sewing machine, and thecompartment identifier initially transmits the compartmentidentification information of a first used thread color information tothe thread spool storage device and thereafter transmits the compartmentidentification information of a subsequently used thread colorinformation indicated by the thread change command to the thread spoolstorage device prior to the changing of the thread spool to thereplacement thread color indicated by the thread change command, and thelocation indication controller of the thread spool storage device, whenreceiving the compartment identification information of the first usedthread color information, instructs the compartment location indicatorto indicate the location of the compartment storing the thread spool ofthe first used thread color information, and when receiving thecompartment identification information of the subsequently used threadcolor information, instructs the compartment location indicator to stopthe indication produced by a previously received compartmentidentification information and thereafter indicates the location of thecompartment storing the thread spool of the subsequently used threadcolor information.
 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein thesewing machine further includes a provisional pattern selector thatprovisionally selects the pattern data prior to the validation of theselected pattern data, and when the pattern data is provisionallyselected by the provisional pattern selector, the compartment identifiersearches to find all the thread color information pertaining to thethread color data contained in the provisionally selected pattern datafrom the thread color information storage and transmits provisionalcompartment identification information for provisionally indicatinglocations of all the compartments of the found thread color informationto the thread spool storage device, and when the location indicationcontroller of the thread spool storage device receives the provisionalcompartment identification information, instructs the compartmentindicator to produce an indication which differs in mode of theindication produced based on the compartment identification information.7. The system according to claim 6, wherein either of the mode ofindication based on the compartment identification information and themode of indication based on the provisional identification informationcomprises an intermittent indication mode that instructs the compartmentindicator to produce an intermittent indication and the remaining othercomprises a continuous indication mode that instructs the compartmentindicator to produce a continuous indication.
 8. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the sewing machine further comprises a color displayand presents a mapping between the compartments of the thread spoolstorage device and thread colors on the color display.
 9. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the sewing machine only allows attachmentof a single thread spool.
 10. A thread spool storage device that isprovided with a plurality of compartments for storing a plurality ofthread spools and that is communicably connected by a communicationelement to a sewing machine capable of selectively using a pluralitytypes of threads to obtain compartment identification information thatidentifies locations of the compartments where the thread spools thatcarry thread colors used by the sewing machine are stored, the threadspools storage device, comprising: a compartment location indicator thatproduces an indication to locate at least one of the compartments; and alocation indication controller that instructs the compartment locationindicator to indicate the locations of the compartments based on thecompartment identification information obtained from the sewing machineby way of the communication element.
 11. The device according to claim10, wherein the compartment location indicator comprises a first lightemitting element provided at each of the compartments.
 12. The deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein each of the compartments is capable ofstoring a plurality of thread spools, and further comprising: a threadspool remainder detector that detects a remaining count of the threadspools within each of the compartments; a thread spool remainderindicator that indicates the remaining count or presence/absence of thethread spools within the compartments; and a remainder indicationcontroller that instructs the thread spool remainder indicator toindicate the count of thread spools or the presence/absence of thethread spool within the compartments based on the detection of thethread spool remainder detector.
 13. The device according to claim 12,wherein the thread spool remainder indicator comprises a second lightemitting element provided at each of the compartments.
 14. The deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein the location indication controllerinstructs the compartment location indicator to indicate the locationsof the compartments identified based on the compartment identificationinformation pertaining to the thread color of an embroidery patternformed by the sewing machine obtained from the sewing machine by way ofthe communication element.
 15. A sewing machine system comprising: asewing machine that is capable of sewing patterns with a plurality ofthread colors based on pattern data and that is provided with a transferelement that transfers a workpiece being held by an embroidery frame, athread spool storage device that is provided with a plurality ofcompartments for storing a plurality of thread spools and that iscommunicably connected to the sewing machine by a wire communicationelement; wherein the sewing machine includes; a pillar being providedwith a wire communication section on a first side thereof and theembroidery frame being moved over a plane residing in a second sidethereof opposite the first side; a pattern selection validator thatvalidates a selection of the pattern data containing a plurality ofthread color data, a thread color information storage that stores amapping of thread color information of the thread spools to thecompartments of the thread spool storage device, a compartmentidentifier that, when the selection of the pattern data is validated,searches the thread color information storage to find the thread colorinformation pertaining to the thread color data contained in the patterndata and that transmits compartment identification information thatlocates the compartment being mapped to the found thread colorinformation to the thread storage device, and wherein the thread spoolstorage device includes: a drawer that stores the thread spools and thatcan be drawn out of the compartments; a compartment location indicatorthat indicates at least one of the compartments; a position indicationcontroller that instructs the compartment location indicator to indicatethe locations of the compartments based on the compartmentidentification information obtained from the sewing machine by way ofthe wire communication element.